AB 66: Peace officers: body-worn cameras.
- Session Year: 2015-2016
- House: Assembly
Existing law makes it a crime to intentionally record a confidential communication without the consent of all parties to the communication. Existing law exempts specified peace officers from that provision if they are acting within the scope of their authority.
This bill would impose specified requirements and prohibitions on a law enforcement agency that requires a peace officer employed by the agency to use a body-worn camera, including, among other things, a requirement that the agency conspicuously post its policies and procedures regarding body-worn cameras on its Internet Web site, and a prohibition on a peace officer operating a body-worn camera under certain circumstances. The bill would further require that when a peace officer is involved in an incident involving a serious use of force, the officer may only review his or her body-worn camera video after making an initial statement and report. The bill would also require those law enforcement agencies to consider specified guidelines when adopting a body-worn camera policy, including, among others, a requirement that a peace officer equipped with a body worn camera activate the camera when responding to calls for assistance and when performing law enforcement activities in the field. Except as provided, the bill would specifically require that a request for a file from a body-worn camera be processed in accordance with the California Public Records Act. site. The bill would prohibit a peace officer employed by a law enforcement agency that requires a body-worn camera to be used by its peace officers from, among other things, making copies of any body-worn camera files for his or her personal use, or using a recording device such as a telephone camera or secondary video camera to record a body-worn camera file or image. Except as provided, the bill would authorize a peace officer subject to its provisions to review his or her body-worn camera video before making his or her initial statement and report.
This bill would specifically authorize a law enforcement agency that requires a body-worn camera to be used by a peace officer that the agency employs to consider specified model policies when adopting a body-worn camera policy, including, among others, a policy regarding where a peace officer is authorized to position the body-worn camera to facilitate optimum recording field of view.
Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies.
This bill would exempt specified body-worn camera files created by a peace officer of a state or local law enforcement agency from disclosure pursuant to the act, including, among others, files that depict any victim of rape, incest, domestic violence, or child abuse, if the footage relates to any of those incidents.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Discussed in Hearing
1H